Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-11-26
THE rnRrfII1A ryposr

one of the speakers took occasion to re- fer to the Tortilits racket in Pims coun- ty. In the first place these mines are not in Pima county, butin Pinsl, and ia the second place, the character of the mines have ye. to be honestly question ed. We say this wiihou, fear or favor to any one. We have not, ss vs once before said, and never had, one iots of interest in these mines beyond that of the common good. Feeling thus secure in our position, We are constrained to reply briefly to the many and unjust criticisms to which the mines hsye been subjected. The first censorioas cnti- cisms were the natural result of siesuls- tive iscksss into whose hands a portion position. He peddlsd it to every news psper office io the country, offering @ specified amount of stock in payment for advertising the stock for sale etc. The above offer was made to us and not wishstsnding our faith in the mines, we were forced to confess that the thing looked snide. and but for our finn be- lief in the future of the Tortilits mines the CITIZEN would have been Amorg the first in the field against them.
 It remained however, for SD individual calling himself Gen. Hal Ssyer to sd- minister the coup de grace. The fellow came to Tucson, and was SO extremely desirons to conceal his identity and purposes that he employed one of our citizens, whom, we regret to say. seemed particularly anxious to, further his schemes. Together they vent to the Tortilitss, and according to Mir. FL more, by 6 series of misrepresentations, succeeded in getting him to show them through the mines, which he oourieously did. He likewise offered to show them the several places where the vein had been cut below the water level. and where, Mir. EImore claimed, the largest and best ore bodies were to be found, but these things. Mir. Ssyer and his com psnious did not care 10 see. They were looking for fraud, and were snK
 ious to see only just such places as they thought would i'll the bill of their desires. Ssyer then returned to Denver where in addition to the Tortilits expose" he pronounced the mines in Arizona to be generslly worthless and succeeded in getting this statement into the Denver Daily Times. The managing editor was absent st ihe time, but on his return he published s fair and ample apology for the appear snce of said article. The views therein expressed. he said. were those of Ssyer and not of himself or paper. This repu- diation of the Sayer ideas has been gen erally reproduced by the press of this territory, but the fact that Ssyer circu- lated these reports proves him as sn en- pert to be both unfit and incompetent There is just as much reason to accept his dsnuDciator statements of Arizona I bis perverted account of what he d.d not see at the TortilitGs. If the former Is false and there is not miner in all Ari- zOna that will not 50 denoupce l', where is the proof of the suthenticy Of the latter? If the fellow wilfully lied about the one, IS not that prims tacie evidence | fbak ha mad a ahnuf tha ntharS
 When We before called attention to these mines Te said that ID round num- bers their product had been S150,0C0. but We have since ascertsined that this amount Is near SI70.000 It must be re- membered that these mILes, so far ss We have been able to sstertsin, hsvs not only pad their way from the grass roots down, but have 8 nice little surplus to their credit. One thing we do know, and Wells. Fsrso's books will prove it that sl the end of every month for the past two years, the Owl Heads or Tor tiliss mines have shipped their bar of bullion with unfailing regularity. Now. | are somewhat given to censure of the above properties, how many mines in the great west have done better or in other gords how many mines ID their own neighborhOods have been worked for several successive years and paid ex- penses, as the Tortilitss have done2 The latter bsve been put upon the market for one million of dollars, not S5.0O0,00O as has been erroneously stated, and be- cause of this there hRs been 8 hub bub raised that shook the country from one end to the ther. Other mines that have done less and the country is full of them, have been listed for many times the fore going amount, but more discreet meth ods were used ID doing it. The entire trouble seems to have originated in the sssininity of ihe party to whom the sale of stock for working capital was en- trustnd.